Really angry .. Bailiff visit

gilligansyle

My son has just rung me because someone woke him up hammering on the door. He is on nights so not pleased. He didn't like the look of the person so ignored them. They carried on hammering on the door for 5 minutes and then went away. When he went downstairs there were 2 envelopes on the mat. I told him to open them and they were from firm of bailiffs acting for Council for CT arrears. One letter was dated 30th Sept and one today. Amount on 1st letter is £173 and todays is £191.
The address is a previous address that I lived at over 6 years ago. I have rung the Local Authority and asked them what this is for. They cannot give me the information as it has been passed to bailiff. I have asked for a copy of any letters they have sent me about this account as this is the first I have heard of it and for them to note that this is a disputed account. Surely they should have notified me if they were taking action. I have made no secret of where I live, am registered on ER and for CT at my current address and have been since September 2003. They have recently sent me a demand for another address which I lived at in March 2003, which was rented furnished accomodation. Apparently the person who lived there after me never registered for Council Tax. Again this is being disputed with them.

Should the bailiffs have written to me stating they were going to attend, before actually turning up and therefore adding charges to the account. Have tried to ring the number on the letter, but it goes straight to voicemail, so have faxed a letter to the office address stating that this account is in dispute with the Local Authority.

I am angry because of the total ineptitude of the Local Authority. Why can't they tell me the period this refers to, then I could try and track my payments back. Their blunders are now costing me charges in addition to the original. As the property was Band A and I got single person discount the charges for the whole year were not much more than the bailiffs are now asking for.

I think I have done all I can on this, but if anyone has any other ideas would be grateful to hear them.

Herbie21

With the dreadful state of the eceonomy and the lack of money in the councils we are hearing many stories of local authorities raking though their old files and now issuing liability orders for old debts that were once considered uncollectable. Yours would appear to be in this category.

I am aware of an Ombudsmans's complaint about this and will try to find this for you and post it up here later on.

Sadly, there is NO provision within law for a bailiff company to write a letter to you to advise that they have been instructed. Also they cannot charge a letter fee.

In this case, it is NOT the bailiffs fault. They have a job to do and they are merely enforcing the Liability Orders passed to them.

The problem here is with the council. I would suggest that you IMMEDIATELY contact them and inform them in no uncertain terms that you are very angry at this and that unless they can tell you why they have left this case this long that you will be considering a formal complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman.

I would also be insisting that they remove the charges that they have applied to this account for the summons costs etc. This will be around £90 per account !!!

gilligansyle

thanks for the reply.

I think the reason I was so mad is that this is probably only one months payment that somehow got missed. If I had known about it at the time, it would have been paid. Now, what started out as about £70 is now nearer £200.

Yes you are probably right, they are trying to track old debts down. They have already tried to bill me for 3 years at another address, when I was not there and the people who were there after me never bothered to register for CT. It is obviously easier to chase me as I am on the Electoral roll etc.

Used to work for the local authority, in the office that dealt with Ombudsman complaints, but never thought about it. This is actually more about their ineptitude than the bailiffs, but not sure the bailiffs were acting lawfully in putting 2 letter through on the same day!

bathgatebuyer

God, how upsetting for you :mad: I've had similar when it comes to Council Tax with Edinburgh Council once serving a summary warrant against me because somehow they'd managed to ignore a letter i sent them when I moved from the area asking them to forward on all demands if there was any underpayment. The sum in question was for £16! I got a full apology from the Director of Finance within a few days of complaining and he even sent me a copy of my letter to them which was on my file - said he did not understand why such a mess had happened.

Go straight to your Councillor and tell them what has happened - hopefully you'll get a quicker response than going through the Council Switchboard.

Honestly, I have had it with the local authorities run the Council Tax system :mad: The annoying thing was that one of their members of staff when I first complained about this said, "It's your responsibility to make sure all payments are made on time" to which my response was, "And it's yours to tell me what is due". The "It's your fauly" attitude from them did not help my mood at the time!

gilligansyle

bathgatebuyer wrote: »

"It's your responsibility to make sure all payments are made on time" to which my response was, "And it's yours to tell me what is due". The "It's your fauly" attitude from them did not help my mood at the time!

That is exactly the attitude that annoys me too! How could i pay it if they didn't tell me about it for 5 1/2 years, and then to add charges on top!

As I am in work, the bailiffs can carry on knocking as far as I am concerned. Presumably there is a point at which they have to refer back to the Council.

I did not even move out of the area, moved from one address to another, only 2 miles away, with the same LA, and registered for CT at the address as well as being on the Electoral Roll and my son going to the same school all the time. It's not like I was hard to find!